Keeping It Interesting Cont’d

There are still a lot of things I can improve on, but one thing I did not expect was to receive complaints for doing my job decently well. We teachers get a lot of petty complaints–I don’t understand anything; you said my name wrong; you speak quickly; it’s difficult, etc. But my strangest complaint was that I was too energetic and that class didn’t “feel like class.” I brushed it off and told them I was American, even though I knew very well that I am much more energetic than most of my close Americans.

The funny thing to me though was that I never remember having an positive, lively teacher that I didn’t like. “My teacher introduces games and uses things we like to help us practice our conversation skills. I think it’s literally the worst concept I could ever imagine,” confessed no person ever in life.

I contemplated my student’s remark and the circumstances of this class as my Japanese co-worker relayed me this message. So you are dissatisfied, you say? This is an 8pm lesson with a total of six middle school students, the majority of which (including you) are exhausted and eager to go home… as am I. Yet you would prefer a “less-energetic” or grammar-based class? Believe it or not, you would not be the only person falling asleep. The solution was clear. I snickered and shrugged in response. “Too bad,” I said. As the words left my lips I worried for a second that they might be too bold and seem offensive, but my co-worker laughed and smiled too. “Yes,” she said kindly. “I think it might be puberty.”

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